The Artist
by Roadway
Summary: When Sora commissions a painting of the love of his life the results are quite unexpected. Instead of the face of his fiance, the artist's face appears instead. SoRiku. AU. ONESHOT.


This story was originally written for original characters but I decided it worked well as a fanfic. Interestingly enough, I actually had to change very little about the physical descriptions of the characters... Anyway, this story is like a bunch of time-jumping tid-bits from Sora's POV and it's a oneshot.

Warnings: Male/Male relationships

Enjoy!

* * *

My eyes traced it back and forth, back and forth. It was only one stroke so far so it wasn't a long way for my eyes to travel before they were back where they had started. It had been painted over a few times until the perfect base flesh tone had been discovered. There it was… a short stroke of the perfect flesh tone. A small beginning to what would eventually be the cheek of the woman I loved painted directly on my wall.

For a moment, my eyes left the wall and jumped across the space between it and the artist. He was focused on the wall, planning out spacing and all that, his back to me. I could only see part of his profile but even I could tell that he was deep in concentration. His aqua eyes were jumping over the expanse of the wall visualizing Kairi there before he painted. A charcoal pencil was perched between his long elegant fingers and he would occasional make a light reference mark on the wall. Every now and then he would glance down at the sketches he'd drawn out earlier in his sketchbook and the photos I provided him with for reference.

I watched patiently. I wanted to see every step of this man's process. I wanted to see my beloved Kairi being transferred into a painting larger than life across my wall. Kairi herself was still a little wary of the idea. She didn't know if she'd be able to stand looking at a huge portrait of herself staring back every day.

"It's a sweet gesture," She'd said, "It's just a little creepy."

I got a reluctant 'okay' from her later though and went running with this project. I had already known the artist that I wanted. Riku Oomura. I had seen him around at a few events and he was extraordinary. I was thrilled when he agreed to do this odd project and ecstatic when he also agreed to let me watch him create it. It would take some time, he had informed me that it was probably a week long project, I didn't mind though.

* * *

He spoke to me today. Not that he hasn't before. We've interacted but it's such a rare event that I feel like it needs mention.

"I'm going to need more white paint before I start. Would it be alright for me to request an advance in payment so that I can finish?"

"Yes, of course, it's no problem at all Oomura."

"Call me Riku." He said automatically.

"O-okay. Riku. You're doing a wonderful job by the way."

He smiled. I think it was the first time he had ever directed a smile at me. It was so dazzling I had to quickly look away.

God, I admire him so much!

Sometimes I do wish he'd talk more though. He's so quiet that when he does say something, I'm always pleasantly surprised by his voice. It's so rich and deep but not without a light humor to it. I've tried starting up conversations at times but he's almost always non-responsive. When I asked him about this he said he has a tendency to tune everything around him out when he's working so I've learned to only talk to him when he isn't deep into the painting. It's always me starting up the conversations though and I'm running out of things to ask. No matter what I ask anyway, he gives short, non-interactive responses that leave me fishing for a reply and always coming up short. I wish he would say something of his own volition.

* * *

He let me browse through his sketchbook while he started sketching the details on the wall. He had the skin tone laid out and was sketching Kairi's features over it.

His drawings are amazing. Lounging on the couch, only a few feet from where Riku Oomura is working, I looked through the ten or so pages of Kairi with various expressions and positions before I discovered there was more in the book than that. Turning the pages I explored images of strangers, each beautifully rendered. I could do little more than stare in awe at what an amazing artist Oomura was.

The artist held out his hand requesting for his book back, "Let me check my reference."

I handed the book back a little reluctantly hoping I'd get a chance to look through the rest at another time.

* * *

She's mad at me. Kairi is, for something she won't explain. She says she's "over that stupid painting" and wishes she'd never agreed to it. I don't see why she's so upset though.

I'll just let her cool off.

* * *

"Where are you from?" I asked one day having long ago noticed that he couldn't have grown up on the island with a complexion as fair as his.

"Midgar." He answered simply.

That seemed to be the end of it.

Riku glanced over at me, "You?"

I almost squealed in delight that he was engaging in conversation. "Born and raise here."

Riku smiled turning back to his painting, "I'm doing the mindless work of applying an undercoat so tell me about it."

"About what?"

Riku shrugged, "Anything."

I smiled and told him about growing up on Destiny Islands. He continued painting and at times I wondered if he was even listening but then he would chuckle or offer a sympathetic grunt at the right times and I would smile and continue telling him about anything and everything that I could think of.

* * *

All the base colors are set and he's going in with shading and lighting. I'm lazily lounging on the couch watching him like usual.

He makes me wish I could paint. It's so amazing watching him create something so life-like from what was a plain blank surface.

It's more work than I could have ever imagined. He seems to think every move through a hundred times before he makes it. Every flick of the wrist and tap of the brush is intentional and adds something to the picture that I couldn't even describe had I wanted to.

I got a hold of his sketchbook again and I'm in just as much awe as the first time. He never fails to amaze me.

There's a picture I haven't seen before but I recognize it immediately as a copy of a photo I leant him for reference. I blush in embarrassment realizing I hadn't meant provide him with a picture that I was in.

Kairi is laughing. We were at the fair I think. She's roughly sketched in and I'm next to her fully rendered and shaded but it took a moment to recognize myself. Something in the way he drew me makes me look…

Different.

It's weird seeing an image of myself rendered by the masterful hand of Riku Oomura.

* * *

Watching him, the way he looked at his painting of my dear Kairi, was enough to make a man jealous. I know, he was only seeing her as an artist sees his subject but the way his eyes would trace every inch of her face, his right hand brushing lightly over the surface or tracing imaginary shapes in the air in front of her. His lips would part slightly in thought as he mapped out every detail of her face. The way he looked at her, it was hard to believe that she was just a painting and not the real thing. He seemed convinced that he was searching the face of a real woman.

* * *

"I know it's none of my business but you're not going to do anything?"

I was so surprised that he spoke that I took a moment to respond. "What?"

Not taking his eyes away from his work he nodded in the direction of the door Kairi had just used to leave, "Her."

"What can I do?" I turned to lay on my back and stare up at the ceiling. Apparently it hadn't sunk in that she had really left me yet. I didn't feel anything. This bothered me but what could I do? Kairi was always around. She couldn't just be _gone. _It didn't make sense.

I caught the motion of Riku shrugging from the corner of my eye, "Go after her? Explain things? I'll admit I don't really know the situation, it just seems like you won't want this painting of her if she's not going to be a part of your life any longer."

I hummed turning my head away thoughtfully then sitting up, "I don't know. I can't even figure out why she's so mad."

He shot me an 'oh really?' glance only for a moment. Eyebrow raised, lips pursed, like he knew something I didn't. Kairi was doing the same earlier before she left. She kept dropping hints that something was going on that I didn't understand and was too stupid to notice. Everyone seemed to see it but me.

Rage suddenly pumped through me veins, "You didn't touch her did you?!" I shouted accusingly.

Riku jumped in surprise then shook his head, "No, of course not." He sighed, "You really don't get it do you?"

I gritted my teeth in annoyance, Kairi has said the same thing. What was going on? What was it I wasn't catching?!

I got up off the couch and left the house to look for Kairi even though I knew I wouldn't find her. She'd left too long ago to still be out and she hadn't told me where she was going. Knowing her, she already had everything planned and was staying at a hotel, or a friend's place. There was no reason to worry about her safety. She was adept in taking care of herself.

I sighed and my 'search for Kairi' quickly becoming an excuse to stroll around the block. I felt like I should be more upset.

I thought about Kairi. I thought about everything we had done together and all the time we had shared and I thought about her never coming home.

Nothing.

I couldn't even imagine it properly. I mean, she'd have to come back for her stuff and... we've been together so long, she couldn't just end that in one day. Just like that.

Okay, a little tinge of pain there.

But she's been by my side since childhood, surely she wasn't planning on ending all that in a day…

I'd never hold her again. I'd never look into her eyes again. Well, her real eyes, not the ones being painted onto my wall.

...The painting

There's no reason to finish it now…

What should I do? I've enjoyed watching Riku's progress so much. Should I just tell him to stop? Leave that masterpiece unfinished? I couldn't stand thinking leaving that beautiful piece of work undone. Not after Riku had worked so hard.

* * *

I let him continue. I'm not sure why I did this. I think I couldn't accept that she was really gone. Not forever at least. This was Kairi, after all.

* * *

"It's wrong. It's all wrong."

Riku looked at me raising an eyebrow, "What is?"

I pointed up at the painting, "Her eyes. They're not like that. They're more slanted downward at the corners and the lids come down over her eyes more."

He studied what I was pointing out and rocked back on his heels in thought. He glanced at a photo of her for a second than looked at me as if he understood something. He nodded, "Alright, I'll change it."

I suddenly felt a little guilty for critiquing his work like that. I mean, what did I know about art? Not much, but I did know Kairi's face like the back of my hand and I knew what I saw was wrong, "Good, I'll pay you for your time of course."

He nodded and started back on his painting.

* * *

She didn't come after all. She got a friend to come get her stuff. She said she didn't want to see me, she was afraid we would make up even though she knew it was right for us to be apart.

"Once you figure things out. We can be friends again but I can't marry you. I can't be with you anymore." That's what she had told me on the phone.

"Why?"

"You just have to figure it out."

* * *

"The chin too, it's longer."

It's odd, I used to think of this painting as pure perfection but I find myself correcting some little detail or another every day.

Riku just took it in stride correcting whatever I asked. Sometimes I would even use his charcoal pencil to show him what it was supposed to look like.

"This is going to take longer than I estimated."

That was obvious. It had already been a little over a week, "Take as long as you need."

* * *

I paced the room.

I've never been so long without Kairi. She's been gone a whole week now. I'm stressed without her around.

I still can't figure out what it was that made her leave. I still can't wrap my head around the idea of her never coming back to live here again.

Riku took the day off today.

Being alone in this place. The place where Kairi and I were supposed to spend the rest of our lives together…..

I can't take it!

* * *

I was spending all my time thinking about things but I still couldn't figure out what had gone wrong. I sat on the floor in front of the mural and stared up at it.

Did Kairi leave me because of this?

She said I could do it…

I studied the face of the woman in the mural and suddenly it hit me.

I wasn't looking at Kairi.

The painting had her red hair and her violet eyes but the shape of the face: The long nose, the pointed chin, the shape of the eyes…

It was Riku.

Am I blind? How could I not have noticed?

Was Kairi mad because Riku was painting himself on the wall instead of her? Why would Riku do that? It doesn't make sense…

But….he didn't. I did.

I changed it. I reshaped it.

I heard the door open. I had long ago given Riku a key to the house so he could come by and work whenever the mood struck him. The way if he was annoyed by my constant presence he could come by when I wasn't around to finish it.

He never did. He always waited for me.

"Sora?" His hesitant voice rang out and I realized I was crying.

I buried my face in my hands. I wasn't ready to talk. I wasn't ready to admit anything. I still needed time to think.

I heard a thump from him putting down his bags and supplies. He sat down next to me but didn't say anything.

* * *

It's so obvious to me now. I'm in love with him. I have been from the start.

I'm laying in bed letting this new information wash over me. He had just sat with me yesterday and let me cry.

It hurts so much.

The skin over my cheeks feels weird and stiff from all the dried tears, my throat is burning and there's a dull throbbing pain in my chest.

Kairi's not coming back.

Acknowledging that this is final is what hurts so much. She said we could still be friends but she was going to be my wife and I betrayed her…

How could I do that to her?

I feel in love with someone else…..

It's as bad as cheating. Perhaps worse.

I heard the front door open and figured it was Riku. I had told him to paint over the mural. Destroy the odd Riku/Kairi mutant….the evidence of my betrayal.

"Sora?" He called but I couldn't see him yet. I wasn't ready to talk to him.

* * *

When I finally ventured out of my room both the mural and the artist were gone.

* * *

I called Kairi.

Like usual she didn't pick up. She was still sticking to her 'won't talk to you until you sort things out' rule.

I told her answering machine instead:

"Kairi. I get it. I don't know what to do. How can I ever forgive myself for doing this to you?"

She called me back only a few minutes later.

* * *

It's been a week. I've been planning to sell the house since I wont be raising a family with Kairi here anymore.

Kairi is supportive and happy as always. She's my friend again which is more than I could ask for.

She's been trying to talk me into confessing to Riku Oomura. I don't really see the point though. He must think I'm crazy.

Not that it matters, I haven't seen him since the time he found me crying.

There's a knock on the door which is odd because Kairi said she wouldn't be able to get here for another hour.

I open the door to find Riku on the other side and my heart instantly jumps into action.

"Hey, sorry to bother you. I realized I still have your key." He dangled it in the air for me to take but I couldn't breathe.

I didn't think I'd see him again.

"Sora?"

"K-keep it."

Riku raised an eyebrow but the key remained dangling in the air, "Isn't it weird for a stranger to have a key to your house."

"I don't want you to be a stranger." I answered perhaps too quickly. All thoughts of not confessing swept away. Being this close to him, all I wanted was to be much much closer. I wanted to say more- so much more- but he seemed to understand.

He gave me the sweetest smile I had seen on him yet and I had to grin back.

* * *

Reviews are lovely!


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